I frickin’ love New England this time of year. I don’t even mind that summer is almost over and the weather is cooling down, because next comes FALL and fall in Connecticut is gorgeous. It’s also when all the stuff happens – this weekend is the Greek Food Festival, the Taste of Italy, and the Ledyard Town Fair. So much food, so little time! Next weekend we can go apple picking and make enough apple sauce to feed all three of us for a year (I have a secret inside hookup for apples). And before you know it, it will be time to pull out the Halloween decorations – or if you’re some people, that time is now. Here are some of the signs of fall around my neighborhood.

Growing up in New England, you quickly learn to become BFFs with any kid in the neighborhood who has a pool – even if he was the weird guy who drew on his arm or the girl who collected horse figurines. Since two months use isn’t enough to justify spending 30 grand digging a giant hole in the backyard, above ground pools are the standard. Those horrible 25 foot blue eyesores that were useless 10 months of the year became priceless for the sweaty, sticky months of July and August. I have hundreds of happy memories of splashing my way through rounds of Marco Polo where no one was ever actually out of arms reach or running in circles to make a giant whirlpool.

If you were unfortunate enough to get uninvited – or if you have the kind of selfish neighbors who never bother to invite you at all – you had to settle for your own sad kiddie pool, inflatable or plastic. Today, in the great tradition of New England summers, we introduced Baby Evan to the joy of sun-warmed hose water on as 85 degree day. And to make it really classy, we let him go naked.

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